Chapter 16
Chapter Sixteen
Case
I’m rock-hard as I leave Tessa, but I didn’t go there to get into her pants. I went there to check on her, make sure she was okay. I didn’t like her ex, and not just because he interrupted one hell of a kiss. Although that was annoying as fuck because if kissing was a sport, Ms. Tessa Harlow is the Olympic gold medal champion. And the way she tugged at me, a little desperate, and mewled needfully into my mouth… Christ! I don’t know if I’d ever been so turned on.
Shaking my head to clear the thought of Tessa’s sexiness, I focus back on her ex and the stalker.
Tessa’s ex seemed desperate, and my instincts from years of working as a cop and being undercover, had my alarm bells ringing.
I kept an eye on her, making several passes by the cottage to make sure she hadn’t let him in. I wanted to kick his ass for being a dick and pounding on her door when she clearly didn’t want him there, but that would definitely affect my custody case. So instead, after a half an hour of his menacing door-pounding, I slowed down, revved my bike, and gave him a threatening glare. That stopped the pounding, but he didn’t leave her porch. I had to cut the engine and get off my bike before the message was fully received. He drove off leaving nothing but a cloud of dust and a bad taste in my mouth.
But the alarm bells I had over him were nothing compared to the bystander stalker.
The guy who was watching us earlier, possibly snapping pictures or taking video, had come back. Hid again to take more pictures of us while we were on the beach. I don’t know if the flash going off was an accident and he’d been watching us for a while or if it was the first picture. Admittedly, during our encounter, I thought it was lightning and since I had my hands full… of Tessa , it took me a few minutes to realize it wasn’t.
As soon as I realized, I knew I needed to get her home. So, the question now is, does Tessa have a stalker, or is it worse than that? Had someone from my past, someone from the Ransom, found me?
Am I putting her in danger?
After searching the beach and finding nothing but a flat spot where the man had been hunched in the tall grass, I don’t feel like being inside. I can’t stop wondering if he’s on Tessa’s property somewhere. I have a ton of energy I need to burn off to make sure I don’t bust down Tessa’s door. Mostly to make sure she’s safe, but also to finish what we started.
So, I jog up and down her road instead, making my presence known, but also attempting to burn away my agitation and sexual frustration. The animals are quiet in her barn, but if the guy’s been around a while maybe they were used to him.
I stop near Tessa’s driveway, my hot breath making clouds in the rapidly cooling evening air. There’s no way I can do this all night. I’ve done twelve laps, which means I’ve passed Tessa’s twenty-four times, not once seeing anything suspicious, but noticing every single time that Tessa’s lights were still on.
Leaning on the cottage’s mailbox post, I slow my breathing. The mailbox isn’t a typical box, it’s rooster-shaped—of course—and looks just like Jake, but I know the mail carrier stopped using it well before Lily moved to Hospice. He’s used the door slot, so she didn’t have to walk down the drive. I tug on the little door, but it doesn’t open. Now it’s nothing but decoration.
I can see my house, a shell of what it will become, across the field, lit up by the security lights I installed to stop my naughty neighbor’s shenanigans. They did little to stop her, just like the cameras, but that seems to be because she wanted to be caught. I look back at Tessa’s and the Jake mailbox thinking a moment before jogging to my house.
An hour later I’ve set up a camera. It’s well hidden under the rooster’s ass and pointed at the cottage. It’s also far enough back to see the entire front of Tessa’s place and mine in the background. Thanks to Jeff and his security firm, the camera is a damn good one. The latest tech.
I link it to my phone, setting it up so I get motion alerts. With one last glance at Tessa’s brightly lit cottage, I head back to my trailer. I’ll tell her about the camera tomorrow, knowing it’ll likely be a fight. One she’s likely too tired for now. I do text her goodnight though. When she doesn’t respond, I wonder if she’s more freaked out than I thought about what happened and fell asleep with the lights on.
Sit-ups, push-ups, pull-ups, squats and burpees, I do it all until I’m even more worn out. The shower in the trailer is too small, and the thought of it makes me claustrophobic, so I opt for the outdoor shower. I’d rigged it up behind the trailer using skids and three walls made from an old privacy fence that I helped Mack take down from his new place. He didn’t like feeling boxed in especially when no one owned the adjacent properties anyway.
The shower is private, nowhere near the road and surrounded by trees so I have no worries about surprising anyone.
Except I do. And it’s the last person I expect to see at my trailer.
“You okay? Did you text me?” I ask, worried she’d messaged me for help while I was in the shower. Wrapping a small towel around my waist, I hold it there. Her eyes find mine as soon as I do, as if putting the towel on made her realize she was staring at my dick. My cock, much more aware of the attention, tents the towel.
“Yes, everything’s okay.” Her eyes, on mine, are unsure. Her mouth parts while she gathers a breath and then it’s clamped between her teeth. And I groan inwardly. I’d tasted those lips, and they are my new favorite delicacy.
“Then why are you out in the middle of the night walking around alone after I specifically asked you not to be?” I cock a brow at her. I’m annoyed that she disobeyed me. Which sounds very high-handed, but I can’t make sure she’s okay with two fucking weirdos out there if she’s being reckless and giving them opportunities.
She releases her lip and licks it. My cock lurches at the sight, so I head for the trailer before my dick finds the slit in the towel and she sees exactly how much she affects me.
I turn back as I reach the door of the trailer. “You coming in? I don’t make a habit of hanging around outside in a towel.” My eyes drop to her hard nipples, and I press my lips in appreciation, remembering the taste of them. While I’m lost in this reverie, she runs at me, closing the distance between us. It’s a full-on attack as she leaps at me. I fumble, dropping the towel, but catch her with ease. Holding her body against mine, our eyes lock.
“Hi,” I say, her mouth inches from mine. “Glad you came on up to see me, but you’ll still be explaining yourself.”
“That’s corny,” she says in her usual sass, but before I can comment, she presses that saucy mouth to mine and kisses the hell out of me.
Christ.
With her mouth still on mine, I shift her so I can free one arm to open the inside trailer door. Her legs wrap tightly around my waist and her hands grip and tug on my shoulders as she shifts lower, her hot center pressing against my cock. Lowering her mouth, she kisses, licks and sucks my neck as I crash through the door into the tiny kitchenette.
Looking for a place to set her down, I curse the cluttered counter and tabletop. With a sweep of my free arm, I toss everything on the counter to the floor, deciding the papers on the table shouldn’t be disturbed. My plastic coffee mug, wooden spoon from the scrambled eggs I’d had for breakfast, and the camping plate I ate them off, all clean where I left them to dry on a towel, clatter to the floor. The plate circles for several seconds before stopping and clattering to its side.
Propping her ass onto the counter I grab her hands, folding our fingers and pinioning them up against the cupboards above us. I hold her there, taking control, kissing her neck, collarbone and cleavage before devouring her mouth again. She tastes sweet, and a little salty from the sea air and her hair smells of mangos this time.
Releasing her hands so I can hold both of her wrists in one of mine, I take her chin in my free hand. “Why are you here? Why did you leave the cottage after I told you not to?”
“I would think that’s obvious, biker.” She grins. “To collect the rent.”
“If you want an even redder ass, keep up the sass.”
“Nice rhyming, little boy.”
I growl. “Sunshine, say the words.”
She pauses, biting her lip and looking up to the right in thought. “Property inspection?”
“Tessa, you’re pushing my buttons.” Releasing her chin, I swat the fleshiest part of her hip. She gasps but the heat in her eyes flares to sizzling.
She smirks, her gaze traveling down to my hard cock nestled between her open thighs. Her pink tongue flicks out and I grit my teeth to keep from ripping a hole in her tights and driving inside her.
“I know I’m intimidating but really, Mr. Biker, I expected more from you.” She yawns. “I was bored. Thought I’d give you another chance but obviously you don’t know what to do with that glorious gift God gave you.” Her eyes shoot down to my dick again.
“Liar.” I narrow my eyes as she shrugs. “Are you aware of the saying?”
“What saying?”
“Liar, liar, pants on fire?”
“This again? Are you practicing becoming a rapper? All this rhyming is weird otherwise. And if you are, I think you’re in trouble because unless it’s rapping for toddlers it’s a big miss.”
“You know what I’m not going miss with?”
“Do tell?”
I grab her arm, yanking her off the counter and in a smooth move I could probably never pull off again, I prop my leg on the bench of the kitchen table and pull her across my knee. She makes an oof sound as she goes over, legs dangling.
I yank her pants down along with her panties, dragging them to her knees by the crotch. Their dampness makes my nostrils flare and my jaw tense. Have I ever wanted a woman more?
“I’m not going to miss with the wooden spoon,” I say, reaching down and scooping the spoon from the spot it landed on the floor. I set it on the table. She looks back at me, a scowl on her mouth, but mischief in her eyes.
“Nope, not going to happen.” I move the spoon out of her reach as she grabs for it. She squirms on my lap but I grip her middle. “You’re not going anywhere this time, Sunshine, and Jake and his shotgun are too far away to save you.”
She curses and I chuckle.
“Hurry up then. Exact your revenge, biker.”
“Oh, this isn’t revenge, honey, this is discipline for putting yourself in danger. And a bit of foreplay. Because what you need as much as this spanking is a damn good dicking.”
She shivers beneath me, and I smile. “Now be a good girl and take your punishment so we can get to the part where I fuck you mindless.”
She’s about to say something sassy so I swat her ass with my palm hard enough that she gasps instead.
“What was that, Sunshine? I couldn’t hear you.” I swat her again just as hard, when she tries to speak. She curses. “You’re an author, Tessa. You have a surplus of words. Why resort to words used by the hoi polloi?”
She twists her head to look at me. “Hoi polloi? Seriously? No one says that.”
“You know this sass is getting old, but fine, the common folk, the masses.”
“That’s better. Using words like that only makes you seem pretentious.”
I gather a breath. “Let’s see if I can’t spank that sass into submission.” This time I spank her ass without pause. Her bottom is a nice glowing pink and she’s holding her breath when I finally stop. “That’s a good warmup, now for the punishment.” I grab the spoon, and she starts squirming hard, trying to buck off my knee.
“Settle down, honey, or you’re going to fall.”
“Don’t you dare use that spoon on me, biker!”
“If you really wanted me to stop Tessa, you’d have used my name. Go ahead, use it and this all stops.”
Her silence makes me smile. The spoon splats across her right cheek and she yelps. I give the left that same crisp swat. Her ass wobbles in a way that makes my cock throb harder. I want to see that wobble and hear the smack of skin on skin as I drive inside her, but first things first.
“You know I have full access to your vulnerable junk down here.” To prove her point she cups my balls, giving them a gentle squeeze. I groan, my eyes closing for a moment —her touch feels so fucking good. She moves her hand, finding my erection, her hand tightening around it. I hiss when she strokes me, I can’t help it. Her hand is fucking magic to my frustrated cock, and I can’t concentrate on spanking her while she’s touching it.
“As much as I want your hand on my cock, Sunshine, it’s too distracting.” She squeezes and runs her thumb over my cock head. I bite my lip. Fuck.
“Give me that hand.” It’s a stern demand, but I’m still surprised when she obeys. I tuck her arm behind her, pinning it in the small of her back. “You need the other to hang on?” Her other arm is against my propped leg, her hand gripping my shin for purchase.
“Yes.” Her answer holds a touch of vulnerability that both heats my libido and warms my heart.
“Okay. I won’t pin that one unless you let go of my leg. Yeah?”
She nods, her hair cascading down to the floor and flowing with her nod like a waterfall.
“This is for disobeying my order to stay home, yeah? It wasn’t a power play, it was for safety because I care, Sunshine.”
She nods again. “I was scared. I didn’t want to be alone. And I’m not used to taking orders, Case.”
That admission, what it must have taken her to tell me, it hits me right in the chest.
“Then you call me. Tell me you need me, yeah? And you better start getting used to taking orders.”
“Why?”
“Because I’m taking charge of you, keeping you in check, and safe, from now on. Got me?”
When she doesn’t answer I grab the hair at the back of her head and give her head a tug up.
“Do you understand, Tessa? Do you comprehend that you’re mine now?”
She turns her head, eyes wide, her mouth agape, and she nods. Although it looks as if it pains her to agree, I also see needy heat in her glassy eyes. She wants this. She needs it, but admitting it is hard for her.
“Yours?” She says it as if it’s something new on her palette and she’s still deciding.
“You good with that?”
“Does it mean I have to stop my shenanigans?”
“Hell no,” I say with a chuckle. “I love the challenge.”
“Okay.”
Wasting no time staring at her beautifully vulnerable face, I begin peppering her ass with spanks from the spoon. She squeals and squirms but instead of trying to break her arm from my hold, she grips me. Releasing her wrist, I grab her hand, folding our fingers together.
“I’m sorry…” A gasp cuts off her words before she continues. “For worrying you.” Her voice is elevated in a pitch that says she’s feeling the spanking, getting the message. I continue though, until I’m sure she’s had enough.
“You’re forgiven, Sunshine.”
Her ass is splotched with red circles, and an all-over pink blush. I toss the spoon onto the table. It skitters to the end and teeters off the side. Tessa pants and sniffles and I wonder if I went too far. The thought hits me hard in the chest. As does the fact that I care so much. I consider both as I rub away the sting, soothe her roasted skin and just touch her.
“It’s been a long time since I’ve felt taken care of by a man.” She gathers a breath. “And by a long time, I mean never.” She chuckles.
I don’t. Instead, my gut clenches.
Pulling Tessa up onto to her feet, I press a hot kiss to her mouth. Her cheeks are flushed, her lip swollen probably from biting it, but her eyes are dry. They’re soft — not at all guarded like usual.
“Come here, sweetheart.” I pull her into my arms, and she doesn’t hesitate to hold me in return. Reaching down, I touch her ass again, kneading and messaging until she moans into my shoulder.
“You’re my good girl now, yeah?”
She nods into me, her body soft and pliant in my arms.
I’m no sadist, but when a woman likes it rough, I give it good, knowing that I’m fulfilling her needs, that she chose me to satisfy her fantasies, and that she’s ultimately the one in control. But with those women, I was a prop. We were both getting off, sure, but there was no real connection. They didn’t want to know me, and I didn’t want to know them. We were both simply playing a part to satisfy our own needs until we parted ways. I know some of that was because I didn’t see myself as anything else but a good time. And not worthy of more. At least not since I went undercover. But it’s not like that with Tessa. Not at all.
Tessa is no doubt enjoying our game, egging me on with the purpose of earning an interaction rather than just a reaction. A way to keep her guard up while she explores her needs—emotional and physical, but there’s much more between us. It didn’t start that way, but it morphed at some point. And I meant what I said, somewhere along the way, she became mine.
I press a kiss to her head. I’m not exactly sure when I started feeling responsible for her emotional well-being, but I do. And now, in this twisted way we’ve become more, I owe it to her to read her, to know her needs, and to treat her submission like a gift because trust is something this woman doesn’t give easily, and keeping it is suddenly damn important to me. I want to be worthy of her.
For once I have something to lose again besides my daughter. And it’s Tessa Harlow.